Lingering Consequences
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: they were both caught up in an evil plan to see if the 'hulk' could be bred and his offspring weaponised. No one expected how difficult it would be to tear the big guy away from his mousy little 'mate'. Nor just how deeply Banner had already fallen for her. Rated M. R&R please.
1. Chapter 1

**Not going to lie to anyone here- this part shows Banner getting sort of rapey with the OC. And while I do not condone such things, I'm not saying it's okay either. I will however point out that if you read this, that the reason why he does something so horrible is mentioned.**

 **So try not to judge him too terribly. That's his job.**

 **(***************************************************************************************************************************)**

 _How did things wind up like this?_ The man wondered as he glared across the cell from where he sat on the floor in nothing but an unbuttoned shirt and loose pair of pants, at the door. Hoping against hope that it wouldn't open.

That no one could be so cruel as to toss an innocent person into the room with him as angry as he was. That he wouldn't transform into the other guy- that this place would be his tomb.

Forever sealed away... But unfortunately, this was not meant to be.

He knew that he would only be deluding himself if he thought that the enemy would simply leave him to rot instead of implementing their plan of trying breed him with some unsuspecting woman for the sole purpose of weaponizing any offspring that may come from this.

Which was a terrible idea on so many levels that he almost wanted to laugh at the foolishness of the enemy.

 _Almost_ being the operative word since from the moment he'd been captured and told the enemies nefarious plans- he'd already mapped out all of the flaws of said plan, and was going to point out that there was no way on gods green earth that their plan would work. When his words had died on the tip of his tongue as one of the armed men laughingly told him that if he didn't get the job done by any means necessary that the woman chosen to birth his child would be killed in front of him.

And while he could with stand much on his conscience... The blood and death of some unknown woman wasn't something that he wanted.

Which was what brought him back to the present and the cell he currently resided in. He knew he could tear the damn thing apart with his eyes close, and yeah. Sure. He was _dying_ to do just that and escape and return back to Avenger's tower where Stark was no doubt getting the others worked into a fine tizzy about him being kidnapped, but for the moment he chose not to do anything.

Besides, who was to say that if he went ahead and escaped- that the enemy might not have already procured the woman that they wanted to breed him with. Who was to say that if he left now, they would carry though with their threat to murder her?

Best to be safe instead of sorry. Besides the other guy was seemingly holding him in place for the moment so he couldn't have really moved if he had wanted too.

Apparently his other half wanted to know just what the enemies idea of the perfect mate for them was. Not that Banner could blame his other half any, he was a smidge curious himself about what kind of woman his assumed 'mate' was.

He knew he usually preferred intellectual women, however of late he found himself drawn to other types. Or rather one type in particular. The quiet, shy, mousy- yet so very courageous type. Like his new lab assistant at Stark tower, Mya Reighle.

What had first drawn his attention to her the first time he had even met her had been while he had been taking a lunch break with Tony and Steve, a.k.a. Iron Man and Cap America, when out of the corner of his eye he had seen a pretty young woman with long brunette hair kept back away from her face by a ponytail, wearing a nice mint green colored sweater with pastel pink and cream colored flowers on it, and a pair of semi loose fitting jeans under her lab coat.

And it wasn't so much as what she looked like that caught his attention and gave him a sudden and unexplainable urge to go over to her and mount up like a cave man and fuck her senseless, his head already spinning with the possibilities of what he would do to her if she allowed it- even as the sudden raging hard on in his pants made it somewhat hard for him to think clearly as he got just a bit nearer to her on his way to an empty table to eat his lunch (a turkey sandwhich with light mayo and creamy Dijon mustard, fruit salad, BBQ chips, and a soda).

He'd known that he would be in trouble if he stayed yet he hadn't been able to tear himself away from anything long enough to leave the room. Not even when all conversation between himself and his two friends ceased and he had slowly, and cautiously looked up to find her standing just within his reach with a smile on her face.

Something he still wasn't used too from others... Being within his reach and not screaming bloody murder or trying to run away as fast as one could.

Yet there she had been. All beauty and charm and- his trail of thought had broken off a bit when she said something that he didn't really hear mere seconds before leaning down and taking a bite of the sandwhich in his hands.

Tony snickered and Steve flushed a nice red color as her little pink tongue snaked out of her mouth to lick some of the mayo and Dijon mustard from his fingers, earning a wide eyed look from him as he gaped at her in total shock and disbelief as she hung around for a second to chew and swallow her pilfered food before saying, "Huh, not bad. I thought it'd taste worse..." As he continued to gape at her.

She smiled sweetly at him and then leaned down again, this time he tipped his head back a bit, somewhat expectantly (of what he couldn't begin to understand or explain) and caught a whiff of her perfume.

Lilies with a touch of honeysuckle, and musk.

 _Very nice._ Not too sweet. Not too overwhelming. It was just right and seemed to fit the woman perfectly. He thought as he let a dopey smile cross his face, just a second or so before he felt her press her lips against his freshly shaven cheek before she straightened her spine and turned and walked off leaving him in a daze, wondering if _that_ had actually happened to him.

Or if he had just been day dreaming as Tony finally shot to his feet and started calling out after her and jumping around like a crazy person.

"Come back! Come back! He'll give you the rest of his sandwhich! I'll even give you free food for the rest of you're life just come back and kiss him aga- _omphh_!" Tony was suddenly cut off by Steve standing up and grabbing him none too gently by the scruff of the neck and begun dragging him towards the cafeteria door muttering about how he couldn't take the super genius anywhere as Banner was left at the table with their discarded things.

Staring at the peach colored tint on the bread of his sandwhich where the woman had taken her bite and wondered if there was a matching peach color left behind on his cheek where she had kissed him.

Because if so- then he wasn't washing his face ever again.

Reaching up with one hand, he lightly stroked over the place where Mya had kissed him the first time they had met and wished (as damned foolish and selfish as it was) that she would be the one tossed into the cell with him. Because if there was one thing that he knew it for certain, it was that being with her would definitely be no hardship for him.

However even if she was the one tossed into the cell with him...he had no desire to hurt her when he would much rather claim her on his terms. Somewhere warm and safe and away from prying eyes and people with guns who would probably kill her if she tried to leave the room without lying with him a few dozen times or so.

The cell doors opened up and six men armed with large guns entered the room before three more appeared, each one pushing a cart piled high with things that Banner shuddered to even think about. The carts were left by the bed for him to go through once the men were gone.

And go through them he did. Noting absently that they had brought him all manner of neat things to play with. Everything from women's sex toys to arouse his potential 'mate' and mother of his child, to drugs (heroine, cocaine, morphine loaded needles...) jesus, what did they expect him to do with this shit?

There were bindings and silk scarves and small specifically tailored for bondage. There were ball gags of different sizes to keep the woman from biting off her tongue should he get more than a little out of hand... (Thank you crazy people for at least thinking of that) There were even bigger ball gags to keep him from ripping out her throat with his teeth should _he_ get more than a little out of hand.

There were energy drinks and seven bottles of Viagra and he had to laugh at that- honestly, just because he had just a little bit of grey at his temples didn't mean that he was so old he needed that sort of help. He was still in his mid thirties for fuck sake and despite his eight years of self induced celibacy, he was still young enough to pick up a nice gal (if he wanted) and fuck her brains out (again, if he wanted too).

So after finishing going over everything that had been left for him to work with... Banner considered two things.

1) These people were either insane or such fools that they didn't realize that they had just handed him the means for his own destruction at least a hundred times over. And 2) There was enough drugs and energy drinks in the room with him that he could throw a Thor/Tony style party before he went Hulk and ripped the place apart with his bare hands.

He sat on the edge of the bed for- who knew how long- weighing the pro's and cons of popping some shit and going on a magical trip just to kill some time until _something_ happened when the door to the cell finally opened again, cutting off his trail of thought as the same six armed guys from before came back in and stood there while two more guys slowly made their way into his cell partially carrying/dragging a person- a woman with a burlap sack over her head into the cell with them.

Slowly getting to his feet as they drew closer, he knew that this was it. They had finally decided to bring the woman that they had procured for him to impregnate and had decided to finally bring her to him so that things could get underway.

The woman's body was none too gently deposited inside the door of the cell and the men then practically scurried out of the room and locked the door behind them. Leaving him with the...uh...masked? woman curled up, lying on her side on the floor just a few feet away from him.

He took several deep, calming breaths (just in case) and flexed his fingers as his palms began to get this peculiar prickling sensation indicating his need to satisfy his curiosity. He could already tell just by looking at the woman from this angle that her build was akin to Mya's. Which was probably why he was starting to feel that overly warm, blood boiling in his veins feeling.

He needed to see who the woman was before he lost it.

Moving over to her, he knelt down by her body, absently checking for injuries as he did so- and reached out and laid a hand on one of her slender shoulders, feeling the fragile bone underneath the thin clothing of her cotton shirt and very gently so as not to hurt her any further if he had missed anything- slipped an arm under her and lifted her up off of the floor just enough to tug the sack off of her head and felt his eyes widen in both shock and alarm as long silken dark hair tumbled out around the face of the woman he had been thinking of earlier.

"Mya," He whispered as he moved a shaky hand to stroke some of her dark hair back away from her beautiful face as the anger he'd started to feel moments ago hit him again full force, nearly doubling him over as he chanted over and over again to himself as the full weight and horror of the situation finally hit him. "No. Oh god, no."

Not her. Not his Mya.

God, anyone but her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Not going to lie to anyone here- this part shows Banner getting sort of rapey with the OC. And while I do not condone such things, I'm not saying it's okay either. I will however point out that if you read this, that the reason why he does something so horrible is mentioned.**

 **So try not to judge him too terribly. That's his job.**

 **(***************************************************************************************************************************)**

Staring blankly down at Mya's unconscious face for several moments, he took that time to breathe.

Choosing to focus on the inhale and exhaling of air as it entered and passed through his lungs instead of the panic he felt rising in his chest, so that he could calm his already erratic heartbeat down as he reached out and slipped an arm under Mya's back, somewhere around her shoulders, and his other arm under her legs and lifted her up off of the cold floor and slowly got to his feet cradling her slight body in his arms and moved over to the bed and laid her on the damndable thing.

Thinking that at least for the moment it would be put to some good use.

Swallowing past the lump in his throat as he studied her sleeping face, he ran his fingers through her thick hair again, brushing little curling wisps back away from the curve of her pale, dust covered cheeks and nearly jumped out of his skin when she finally twitched a little under his hands and moaned softly as her eyelids fluttered and finally opened and he found himself staring at the prettiest turquoise eyes he had ever seen.

"Mya?"

"Mister Banner?" She said with a slight hint of uncertainty as he gave her a small smile. That was the neat thing about Mya. She never referred to him as a 'rage monster' or 'Dr. Banner'. No. She almost always called him Mister. Which he supposed was her way of being both polite and rude at the same time.

"Are you okay? Do you hurt anywhere?" He asked curiously.

She moved her head a little to the side as if testing the waters and sure enough- let out a loud hiss as she reached up to grab at her head. "AH!" Came the pained response that Banner supposed answered his question about whether or not she was hurt.

Guess one of the armed guys must have clocked her one to keep her from putting up much of a fight when the lab had been attacked. Not that she could have put up much of a fight anyways. His poor girl didn't seem like she even had enough muscle mass to so much as throw a stapler at someone's head.

"Hold still." He ordered as he slipped his fingers through her hair and ran them carefully along her scalp until he found the source of her discomfort and grimaced as his other half let out a growl in the back of his head. Oh if big green ever figured out who had struck his 'mate' and hurt her- he'd rip off their arms at the shoulder and watch them bleed out.

Shaking the violent haze from his mind, Banner settled on trying to make Mya comfortable and went over to the cart of drugs and dug out the morphine and an untouched needle since he didn't really trust the syringes that had already been prepared.

"I'll give you something to help with the pain." He said as he started to prepare the syringe when Mya stopped him by reaching out and placing her fingers on the back of his hand. Funny how such a simple action could stop him dead in his tracks.

Hell, it wouldn't be much longer before she would walk into a room and he'd drop whatever he was doing and crawl to her on his hands and knees just to see if she would let him bury his face against her and lick her until she screamed and cried in pleasure...

"D-Don't. The needles have all been tampered with."

"What?" He asked stupidly, all thoughts from before fading away as her words sank in. He glanced over at her then the syringe and meds and with as feral sounding growl flung both away from them with such force that the bottle shattered and the syringe embedded itself in the wall. "Shit." He muttered darkly understanding _why_ the drugs and such had been left behind with him _now_.

It was all probably laced with something that while, couldn't affect him, it could affect Mya. A poison? No, that would serve no purpose if the enemy wished to breed him with Mya. So an very potent aphrodisiac perhaps?

Yes, that made more sense. Banner thought to himself as he sat down on the edge of the bed and laced his fingers together and tried to think of what to do now when Mya's voice broke through his thoughts and she asked, "Were we really kidnapped for 'breeding' purposes?"

Ah, there was the multi million dollar question right there.

And he wasn't touching it with a damn ten foot pole unless he had no other choice.

"Banner?" He inwardly cringed when Mya spoke this time. Partially because she hadn't added Mister to his name like she usually did and partially because he knew that she deserved an answer. He just didn't know how to go about answering her and keeping her from getting hysterical on him.

Because if she panicked, he'd panic, and then the whole enemy base would go up in flames cause the Hulk would show up in a panic and rip everything apart. And then there would be a whole lot of running and screaming... And no one really wanted that, well, yet.

"Banner!" Mya said his name a bit more sharply this time, causing him to visibly tense as he turned to her and nodded his head yes.

"Yeah. That's why we're here."

"Do you have any idea who we're-" He gave her a pointed look that made her question die a very quick death before she went, "Oh."

"Yeah."

There was silence for several moments and he was able to focus on the roar of blood in his ears before hearing Mya say almost to herself, "Well... I could do worse. And it isn't like I've never wondered what you were like between the sheets," He turned his head to look at her over his shoulder and sputtered as she continued to ramble on. "And in the lab, when you first come in and haven't put you're coat on yet- I've checked out your butt and legs. Apparently I find them very endearing. So much so that I've wanted to walk up behind you and feel you up a bit."

If he hadn't been choking on his tongue before- he was now. And while he found her innocent and naïve honesty refreshing, being told that your crush was crushing hard back on you in a high stress situation was not the best way to kick things off.

Or was it?

Deciding to try something, Banner turned his body so that it was facing her and nervously licked his lips before asking, "What do you know about me? Aside from what you were told by Stark anyways?"

"You have a certain dislike of people and some things and have some anger management issues. Aside from that your brilliant, a bit anti social, but kind and compassionate... Why?"

"Then you didn't know that I'm one of the Avengers?"

"Nope. Not till now." She replied in an almost drowsy tone as her eyes began to drift shut. She suddenly felt as if her body weighed a ton. Her eyes were heavy and she just wanted to rest a bit.

She felt Banner's big hand against the side of her face, tipping her head back a little and could almost sense his dark eyes studying her features with an almost menacing look on his face as he leaned over her and asked in a growling tone, "Don't you want to know which one I am?"

The words, not particularly, rested on the tip of her tongue as she opened her eyes again. Just for a moment to look at him and tell him with all honesty that it didn't matter to her which Avenger he was. To her he would still be Mister Banner, when she suddenly found herself face to face with intense glowing green eyes and felt her body instantly tremble in reaction.

Whether it was from fear or something else altogether she couldn't say.

All she could say with certainty was that she now knew which Avenger he was. And she wasn't sure if she should be screaming her head off or just sitting quietly and hoping that Hulk's eyesight was like a T-Rex's. Based on movement. Either way, this was simply something that she couldn't handle right now.

Her eyes drifted closed again, and this time stayed that way. Leaving Banner to wonder about her reaction or lack there of while she rested since the next few hours would no doubt be far more trying on her nerves, body and mind than now had been.


	3. Chapter 3

**Not going to lie to anyone here- this part shows Banner getting sort of rapey with the OC. And while I do not condone such things, I'm not saying it's okay either. I will however point out that if you read this, that the reason why he does something so horrible is mentioned.**

 **So try not to judge him too terribly. That's his job.**

 **(***************************************************************************************************************************)**

He hated being right. Truly he did. He thought darkly as not even thirty minutes after Mya had lost consciousness again, the same six men from before plus two men dressed in lab coats- entered the cell. The armed men pointed their weapons at him and upon noting that he wasn't fighting back, possibly out of fear of getting shot, wrangled him to the other side of the room.

Away from the defenseless woman as the two men in lab coats went through the cart of drugs and pulled out three needles that had been prepared earlier and then moved over to Mya and rolled up one of her shirt sleeves and unceremoniously jabbed one syringe after the other into the tender veins hidden under soft pale skin. Leaving behind black, blue smudges and thin tails of blood behind when they finally finished and left the room again.

The moment the door closed and locked, Banner was across the room and leaning over Mya. Her exposed arm in his hands as he studied the tiny pin pricks and wondered what they had given to her.

It wouldn't be anything harmful since they needed her healthy.

Bringing her bleeding arm up close to his face he inhaled deeply and noted a strangely distinctly sweet musky scent to her skin that had absolutely nothing to do with the perfume she wore everyday. However he was unable to place it until the smell permeating her skin became so overwhelming that his body began to react to it.

His reaction to the smell at first was subtle, a slight tingling sensation that made his skin itch. His heart sped up a bit and his mouth went dry and his stomach cramped viciously almost as if he were a thirsty/starving man crossing a dessert.

He began to fidget. Taking his broken glasses off and cleaning them and then replacing them back on his face only to do so again and again.

However after about ten minutes or so, his breathing began to speed up a bit and he was starting to get a painful erection behind the fly of his pants and muttered a string of oaths as it finally, _finally_ hit him what the men had done to Mya.

They had shot her up with enough pheromones that both he and the other guy were finding it more than a little hard to sit still and keep their hands to themselves. Especially when the object of their desire _was. laying. right. there_. Within his reach!

And he and the other guy both were all but _dying_ to touch and be touched by her.

After all it had been eight long, strenuous years since he'd last gotten freaky in bed with a woman. And the other guy...well, he just probably felt left out cause he'd never been allowed to get freaky. But that was mostly due to the fact that Banner's fear of him hurting someone innocent was so deeply rooted that the man had all but forgotten that he was human.

Half human, half rage monster- whatever.

The point was, even the Hulk knew that Banner couldn't continue living a half life because of him. It wasn't fair to the little guy anymore than it was fair to assume the worst of the Hulk. He was after all, a small part of Banner. And despite what others may think or assume about him- Banner was nothing but goodness personified.

So didn't that technically make Hulk good too?

Was that why both he and Banner seemed so drawn to little Mya?

She wasn't afraid of him, nor Banner, which floored the Hulk to some degree since it was rare for him to run into humans who were unafraid of him and Banner. Of course Stark didn't count since the man had obviously been dropped on his head a few times as a baby...

What had he been thinking about again? Banner wondered as his mind shifted back and forth between mean green and himself as sweat blossomed across his skin and panic seized him. Oh god, his reaction to Mya's pheromones were starting to become more evident.

His clothing started to irritate his skin to the point where he stripped out of them so violently that he shredded his shirt and pants and settled himself against the far side of the room, absently counting the slight rise and fall of Mya's breasts and caught the rumbling sound of a purr beginning to vibrate in his chest as his mind started to go over all the neat things a guy could do with breasts.

Suck em, toy with them, motorboat them, fuck them...

 _A-n-d_ he really needed out of this room before he wound up raping Mya or something. Hey there was an idea- escaping the cell and not raping Mya. Yay for what few brain cells remained functioning!

His brain still worked!

He might have cheered and tried doing a cart wheel or two if he wasn't so preoccupied with other things at the moment. However those other 'things' were far more distracting to him. Distracting in the way Banner suddenly found himself on the bed leaning over a half naked Mya...


	4. Chapter 4

A week later-

He was having trouble sleeping again. His mind always seemed to flash back to what had happened with Mya. To what he had done to her, causing him more than the usual amount of unrest as he walked by a window in Avenger's tower and stopped when he thought he saw something in place of his reflection.

It was a man with dark curly hair, naked, and he was... on top of something. A young woman- from the looks of it. Her clothing was tattered and torn in places it should not have been as the man pushed into her and then pulled out only to repeat the process.

The woman didn't react. Didn't grip his arms or kiss him or anything one would expect a lover to do- no she just...lay there, unmoving underneath the man. Her slight body moving only as he directed it too as he twisted it this way and that without slowing his hips motion.

His desire to spill his seed inside of her, to give in and lose control and impregnate her, was the primal driving force in his mind in those exact moments.

He took a shuddering breath and closed his eyes in disgust as some part of his mind reminded him that the man was him and the woman had been someone he'd cared very deeply for and he had inexcusably harmed her when he should have protected her.

Dark eyes opened to stare at his reflection for a moment before the almost overwhelming urge to shatter the glass with his fist made him look away.

God he was pathetic...

And not just as a man for what he had done. But because he had lost control. Total control, and his other half had had a go at Mya. And he had enjoyed it.

Enjoyed it so much that he had taken her five more times- badly injuring her, before he had changed back to Banner and regained some small semblance of his sanity to get off of her and scurry back across the room away from her fearing the worst when the cell door had opened and Tony, Thor, and Cap America had come in to get them.

However the sight that greeted them was a rather grim one. What with Banner huddled naked in the farthest corner of the room crying almost hysterically and his assistant laying (also naked) on the bed in the room.

Her head turned at an odd angle, her normally healthy looking skin pale and covered in bite marks, bruises and...as much as it turned Banner's stomach to think about even now- blood and at least over a gallon of thick gooey cum which was oozing from between her legs.

Not a word was said between the Avengers as they quickly went about making sure that Mya was alive and stable enough to move while Thor slipped off his cape and wrapped it around Banner even as the man tried to push him away all while babbling about how they should just leave him or kill him or something.

Banner didn't really recall which but he was betting that he had begged them to kill him. To treat him like the monster he now knew himself absolutely to be. However his friends didn't listen. Instead Thor had simply wrapped him up like a present or something and told him in a very calm and soothing tone that they would figure everything out back home and then pulled him, unwillingly, to his feet.

And several hours later they were home, and Mya's injuries were being treated in the infirmary.

The moment that Tony had come out of the room where she had been placed and told Banner that she would be okay. Despite his relief at knowing that her life wasn't in danger and nothing had been permanently damaged, at least internally, Banner had broken down again.

And who could blame him?

Tony had been able to access files and other things about the 'weaponized offspring project'. Which of course included ideas and theories on how to get it done plus video footage of what had happened in the cell. That along with Bruce's report pretty much said everything.

But even so it was a sad situation for the Avengers because they weren't sure what to do to help. After all, their resident rage monster guy had pretty much done the unthinkable. If anyone leaked what had happened outside the tower- Tony and the others would be beating down normal people with pitch forks and calling for the Hulk's head.

And as for Mya, due to her injuries it had been decided by Tony that it would be best for her if she lived in Avengers tower with everyone. Banner had venomously denied this idea and tried to squash it. But Tony, and a few others had overruled him.

Besides her wounds would keep her down for a while and she would probably need help for a while. Not only that but Tony was thinking ahead to if any 'hulk' babies had been conceived. As an Avenger, and friend of Banner- he couldn't very well let something happen to Mya or the baby/babies.

Regardless of what Banner may say or do right now, Tony at least had half the brain to know that his favorite rage monster was more family oriented than he let on. And Mya... While he couldn't exactly speak for her after everything she had been through, he knew that had Bruce been in his right mind, he never would have hurt her.

And he hoped and prayed each day spent time healing that she knew that.


	5. Chapter 5

Mya was sitting up in her new apartment's living room, watching some late night TV, feeling almost unbearably exhausted for someone who stayed in bed most of the day yet she was unable to go to sleep as Captain America- er, Steve Rodger tinkered around in her kitchen. Having swung by only a short time ago to check up on her and see if she needed anything before he went to his floor for the night to do whatever it was that super soldiers did all night aside from rest.

He poked his head out of the kitchen for a moment and asked her if she was hungry. Apparently deciding that a late night snack or something might put her out like a light and Mya took a moment to think.

Ever since what had happened between her and Bruce, and her moving in with the Avengers, she had simply been more preoccupied with getting better. Resting and healing- that she had been missing meals practically everyday now.

"Yeah." She replied feeling an unfamiliar cramping sensation in her stomach. Hunger pangs. And bad ones from the feel of it. Just how many meals have I been missing? She wondered as she moved a small hand absently to rub her stomach. The action wasn't lost to Steve as he came out of the kitchen and came to stand in front of her. His blue eyes kind yet calculating at the same time.

"When was the last time you really, _really_ ate something?"

She looked up at him, her dark hair falling in soft waves and curls around her pretty face, making the man's fingers itch a little bit to thread his fingers through her hair and play with it. Thankfully Steve held Banner/Hulk in the highest esteem, even now. Otherwise he might have given in to temptation.

Not enough to overstep bounds. But just enough to get the itch he was feeling out of his system.

"I dunno. Lunch maybe."

"And what did you have for lunch?" He asked as he crossed his arms over his chest and waited for her to respond.

"Uh, tomato soup with sour cream in it."

"Tomato soup. That's it? Seriously?" Steve asked in a tone that made her flinch a bit. Inwardly cringing at what he'd just done, Steve sighed. "Tomato soup isn't enough to keep you healthy and give your body the vitamins and stuff it needs. So here's what we're going to do- I'm going to fix us both something to eat and I'm going to sit here with you and keep you company and make sure that you eat _all_ of what I give you. Okay."

She nodded her head in understanding and looks down at her hands, carefully folded in her lap as he asked her what she felt like she was in the mood for.

She took a moment to think and then suddenly perked up and looked at him and started to list a bunch of bizarrely specific foods making Steve blink at her.

Good grief, from the list she'd just rattled off to him one would think she was already pregnant with Banner's kid when they wouldn't know for certain if she was or not for another few days. Tony was currently in the process of working on something that could pick up traces of pregnancy hormones and gamma radiation. So it would be at least a few more days.

Still... Steve thought as he mentally thought over the food list she'd given him.

Hamburgers with everything on them, extra pickles, tomato, onion and mayo- onion rings with a side of buttermilk ranch dressing. Turkey sandwhiches on white bread with swiss and Colby jack cheese and mayo and mild Dijon mustard with a touch of horseradish. Potato chips and chocholate with tabasco sauce- Steve had never tried mixing food like this so he'd have to watch her eat it and see if it was any good. But he didn't think it would be.

Fried chicken, potato salad- heavy on the mustard. Seafood salad and banana's and pistachio ice cream.

All of it followed by a nice root beer float.

Rolling his shoulders, he popped his neck and fingers as he thought to himself, _Well alrighty then_. _Time to get to work._ As he walked towards back towards the kitchen, Mya's voice stopped him for a moment as she asked him if he wanted help making everything.

And as nice of it was for her to offer to help, Steve could see the bruises and stuff littering almost every inch of exposed skin. Not only that but the dark circles under her eyes were telling.

No- he'd be better off cooking everything on his own instead of worrying about Mya passing out or something while handling a knife.

(************************************************************************************************************************)

He wasn't sure what possessed him to come here, Banner thought as he stared at Mya's apartment door. Perhaps it was simple curiosity, a need to know if Mya was alright. Or maybe it was simply instinct. Or maybe it was the other. The big green monster seemed unusually close to the surface right this moment as he lifted his hand to knock but hesitated.

His mind a flurry of activity.

Mostly questions of the unflattering kind about himself. Things like, Should I be here? Would Mya even want to see me after I had-

He sighed softly as he dropped his hand back to his side and decided that he should leave before he did something stupid. Like attempt to speak to Mya and throw himself at her feet and beg for mercy.


	6. Chapter 6

Some time later-

Steve sat next to Mya on the couch, gaping at the empty dishes already spreading out on the coffee table in front of them as she finally finished off the cheesy fries, onion rings and potato chips with chocolate and tabasco sauce. Her burger and fried chicken and a few other dishes already polished off in such a way that Steve just _had_ to look down at his hands just to make sure that they hadn't been taken off during her little feeding frenzy.

 _Good lord_ , _she's like a little shark-_ He thought with a shake of his head as she looked over at him and then let her eyes flicker to his still- as of yet- untouched food and licked her lips like a hungry tiger. Causing the man to start to reach for the nearest plate only to have his food snatched away from him before he could react.

"Hey!" He finally managed to say, unable to believe that she would be so mean as to snatch his food from him.

I mean, the woman acted like he and the other Avengers had been starving her to death or something.

He watched as she ate _his_ hamburger with everything on it as well as his portion of onion rings and fries before setting the empty plate aside and sitting back with a sigh. Hopefully feeling like she was going to pop like a balloon after eating his food.

God- though he knew it was wrong- he hoped she felt like a balloon right now so he'd have enough time to at least reap some rewards from the food he had gone to the trouble of making for them both. His super fast metabolism was kicking in and he needed to eat something soon.

However, Steve wasn't angry about the food theft. Or even bitter about it.

He might be a little bit bemused, and outraged. But since he didn't know how long Mya had been skipping out on meals and such, he decided that he could sacrifice a hamburger some onion rings and fries.

It was when she started to reach for his fried chicken and potato salad that he drew the line and narrowed his eyes at her a second or so before he smacked her little hand and then picked up his seafood salad and thrust the dish into her hands to keep her occupied while he managed to dig into his chicken.

"Ow!" Mya yelped while shaking her hand as she asked, "Why did you smack me like that?"

Again he narrowed his blue eyes at her and then replied easily, "Because this is _my_ chicken and potato salad. Eat that and stop getting grabby. You aren't the only one hungry."

"Gezz Steve, possessive much." Mya muttered as she watched him take three huge bites of food that made his cheeks poof out like a little chip monk's. Making her snicker a bit at the thought. Unsure of what she was snickering about Steve just did what he always did in slightly awkward situations.

He stopped chewing his food just long enough to shoot her a shit eating grin and then started chewing again as she leaned back again and settled the dish of seafood salad in her lap and said with a wistful note to her tone that had him pausing in interest, "You know, this sort of reminds me of the fish fries and picnics my family and I would have back home."

Swallowing his food he then licked some grease from his fingers as he replied, "Oh? So they were nice?"

"The best." Mya said happily before going into description mode. "The picnics were always done indoors on rainy days or when it was too cold to go outside. And mom's fried chicken and mac and cheese was awesome. I'd always fight with my siblings for seconds, thirds, fourths- We usually ate so much that we did sort of like people do on Thanksgiving after eating a huge turkey and all the trimmings..."

Steve pictured what she was describing and smiled as he said, "You laid around groaning and sleeping."

She scrunched up her nose a bit, reminding him of a rabbit and nodded her head. "Yeah. Mom used to tease dad whenever he'd complain about missing out by saying that the only way they could have some alone time was if we were in food comas."

That had his shoulders shaking a bit as he chewed on his bottom lip to make sure that he didn't laugh out loud at the mere image of a bunch of kids in a food coma cause their parents wanted to snuggle.

Mya's mother must have been a devious woman back in the day. He'd like to meet her sometime.

"And those fish fries you mentioned. What were those like?"

"Unlike anything you find in a restaurant today. Everything was hand picked, home cooked and basically disappeared in under five minutes. We would have the fries mostly on special occasions. Valentines day, birthdays, anniversaries-" She paused for a moment before continuing. "Report card day- anyone with A's and B's not only got cash but heaps of praise and three helpings of two of their favorite fish."

Steve smiled as he continued to eat before saying, "That's one way to positively reinforce your child."

"I know, right."

"So what kinds of fish did you have?"

"A lot."

He gave her a pointed look and she smiled at him as she took a bite of her pilfered seafood salad and said. "Well it's true. We always bought everything that we could find at the local markets. But our favorite place to go to buy fish was this little store just outside of town. And though it was a bit out of the way, mom and dad would almost always go there and we would take our pick of their cool selection. We'd get everything from lobster, crawfish, scallops, shrimp, clams, catfish, salmon- We'd even buy stuff to make seafood salad. It was always mom's specialty until I got older and started making it for everyone." Her smile faltered a bit as she set the now empty dish on the coffee table where it joined the others then said, "When everyone died... I lived on nothing buy seafood salad for over a month because I missed them so much."

Steve's head came up and he looked at her, his earlier warm and fuzzy feelings disappearing and the center of his chest began to ache as he absently muttered, "I'm sorry." Feeling bad for his earlier thought about meeting her mother sometime.

She shrugged her slender shoulders, "Don't worry about it Steve. I may not have had my parents or siblings all of my childhood but I had a pair of elderly grandparents who did their damndest to get me through the hard times and prepare me for the rest before I lost them too..." She fell silent for a moment or so, her expression thoughtful and Steve wondered what she was thinking of when she suddenly blurted out, "Why hasn't Mr. Banner come to see me yet? I mean, shouldn't he have come by?"

He set aside his current dish of food and wondered how to proceed as he asked seriously, "Is that what you want? For him to come by?" When she nodded her head slightly, Steve almost wanted to let out an icy laugh and had to bite back the urge to growl at her, _To do what? Talk?_ His friend and fellow Avenger was currently all tied up in knots because he had practically been forced to rape her for the sole purpose of impregnating her. And while Steve understood this, and didn't blame Bruce for what happened.

He- like everyone else wondered if Mya did.

She wasn't exactly acting like the typical victim. She wasn't grieving. Crying, screaming or anything any normal woman would be doing.

And it was for that reason that no one had brought Banner up in conversation. They had all been so worried his very name might trigger a fit or flashbacks of what had happened that they had been walking on egg shells and trying to avoid him as a subject of conversation all together.

"Yeah." Mya said, her voice finally cutting through his thoughts. "The two of us need to sit down and have a talk."

Steve blinked at her in confusion. Not really understanding _why_ she would want to talk to Banner when she could do other things. Like finally venting her feelings about what happened. And instead of doing just that, what he got was a- "Could you do me a favor?" Followed by a plan to get Banner to come see her so that she could speak to him.

And by the time she was done, for good or ill, Steve had agreed to help carry out her idea.

He just hoped that it helped Bruce and Mya both.


	7. Chapter 7

_A fish fry,_ Steve though as he stood in line at the seafood counter in a downtown market with a buggy full of beer batter, oil, greens for the seafood salad, some crab meat, some stuff for coleslaw and various other things including sparkling grape juice, both white and red. Two bottles each.

It was so devious in it's simplicity that Steve found himself almost enjoying the fact that he'd become Mya's current partner in crime.

The plan as she had laid it out for him the night before was easy enough. She was going to have an old fashioned homemade fish fry, and she was going to sneakily invite Bruce under the assumption that he wouldn't be alone with her. Which he would take her up on because he would feel it safe to do so. Of course Steve had also had to point out the fact that once Banner knew he was alone with her- he'd probably very nearly break his neck trying to escape her apartment.

Which was why Natasha and Clint would be on stand by outside her door with one of Tony's latest and greatest toys to intimidate him into staying inside. And once that was done, the rest would be left up to Mya.

A group of teens walked past him, one of them glancing at him for a second and then doing a double take and fumbled to grab at one of his friends as Steve sighed and absently tugged down the front of his baseball cap and hood covering it to try and better hide his face and tugged the buggy along behind him as the line finally moved.

Leaving him just two customers away from the counter and the fresh fish supply that he needed.

Huffing a little in frustration cause it seemed like the people ahead of him were taking _hours_ just to get what they wanted, Steve decided to pull the 'fish list' out of his left back jean pocket and carefully unfolded it and felt his eyes widen a bit as he scanned it.

Good lord- he knew Bruce, due to gamma radiation needed a lot of food to fuel him but this- this had him wondering why Mya hadn't conned Tony into helping. Could just two people really eat this much?

Four lobster tails, two in a half pounds of small scallops and one in a half of large, three pounds shrimp, one pound jumbo shrimp, four pounds clams, two pounds mussels- cleaned and on the half shell- two in a half pounds of catfish, a large piece of Alaskan salmon, two pounds of crawfish- And a few other...dozen... _things_.

All in all it was looking like Mya's plan was shaping up.

Or it would be if he could just get to the damned fish!

"What is taking everyone so long?" He muttered under his breath with a hint of annoyance as he tried to peer around the hefty woman in the large gaudy frou-frou hat with plum colored feathers to find that she had a list of things in her hand five times as long as the one Mya had given him.

"Good grief, going to a wedding, reunion, or funeral?" He muttered to himself and nearly jumped out of his skin when the woman turned on him and began chewing him out before he could apologize.

(*******************************************************************************************************************************)

Mya finished setting up everything she needed to cook dinner for herself and Mr. Banner and sat back in her wheel chair to survey everything with a critical eye. She had been working as hard as she could in her present condition, and had even wrangled Thor into helping at one point with the heavy lifting and such.

However as nice as it was of him to help, asking him was like wielding a double edged sword. On one hand he helped. And on the other, he made a huge, huge, huge mess while trying to help. And while she knew that wasn't entirely his fault since his knowledge of Earth was still pretty limited.

Dealing with his idea of helping was like dealing with a child's idea of flower picking. Only problem was that said child tended to pick weeds instead of actual flowers.

So when he wound up breaking her favorite flower vase. She had smiled and said nothing. And when he had scattered her books on the coffee table, again, she had said nothing. But when he had broken two of her lamps- she'd sent him to Tony for a much needed time out.

And she'd been as nice about it as possible.

She hadn't yelled, or called him an 'oaf'.

She had just thanked him and sent him to Tony knowing that if anyone in the blasted tower needed some of their stuff broken, it was her boss.

She had just finished picking up some of the shattered glass and was getting ready to try her luck in vacuuming what was left in the carpet, up, when there was a knock on her apartment door a second or so before Natasha poked her head in and asked, "Working hard?"

"I'm trying but being in a wheelchair doesn't exactly make things easy."

The woman smirked at her before saying, "No. I would imagine not," As she looked around for a second before asking, "Well, are you ready for tonight?"

"Almost."

"Very well. I'll go get the stubborn man for you."

"Please and thank you." Mya called out as she turned her vacuum cleaner on and started to vacuum the floor.


End file.
